November Part 2

Well the good news is that I am off to visit the family for a long weekend at the start of December and as such that will involve being in the same place as the Count for the same length of time. Whilst I know that it really isn’t all that long of a break, as I don’t sleep much and as there is electricity in the garage (read: this means there are lights as opposed to the single dim bulb in the machinery shed it used to reside in!) so I should be able to get some decent family time in and also get some work done on the car as well. 

 So far I have the wheels booked in for new set of Nankang 155/80 R14 on the Saturday, so I will have to find/borrow/hire 4 axel stands so that I can get all the wheels off at once to get them into the tyre shop. I have also sourced and should have in the next couple of days the correct (so I am told) type of inner tube to install in the tyres, as the original Morris rims don’t have a beaded edge to seal the radial tyres against properly. 

Further I have purchased a brand spanking new radiator that should be on it’s was to location by Friday this week so will be waiting ready when I get there. Plan of attack will then have to be get a level to check if the wheels are straight or if they are toe-ing in, then get the Count onto the 4 axel stands and all the wheels off and cleaned up a wee bit so they aren’t too messy for the installation of tyres on Saturday morning. While the wheels are all off, if necessary, install the spacing washers on the eye bolt to true the wheels back to straight. Then it is replace all of the brake slaves, front and back, and the master cylinder, fill and bleed the system and adjust the hand brake and refit the wheels. Next is to drain the coolant, flush some fresh water through the system and whip the old radiator out and while I am at it and as I have a new one, remove and replace the water pump, drop a new fan belt in and then fit the new radiator. 

At this stage best bet will be to remove the heater core and also remove the 1000/Mini heater tap, flush through the heater core and if it is ok refit (if not ok then bypass till later), mount the correct type brass screw heater tap and then fill with coolant. From that point it will be best to fit the new locking petrol cap, which is a shame as I like the wee chrome original cap, fill the petrol tank with fresh fuel and then I should be well out of time and be on a flight back home. 

I think I will take the voltmeter with me so that I can see that the alternator is still producing power and I will need to make sure all the lights are working and shining and flashing as they need to be. The current train of thought is that I will head beck to Queensland later in January (due to school holidays and high airfares) and then I will drive the Count back to Melbourne, via the Wide Bay - Burnett, Newell, Olympic and Hume highways, already comprehensively insured as it will be, with a unregistered vehicle permit and compulsory third party. 

I am sure it will be interesting to see (1) if the car makes it, though I see no reason why it wouldn’t, (2) how many times I get pulled over for not having any number plates, hopefully none. I guess one thing I should not have to worry about is getting stopped for speeding! As a result of all this there will be pictures to follow of the work done and then of the trip down to Melbourne in the relatively near future. Actually quite looking forward to getting some work done and getting the car down to Melbourne, finally going to be getting somewhere with it and getting it ready for it’s trip around Australia.

Hopefully will be back to looking this good in the near future

Nov 2013

So starts November and still more delays getting my hands on the car. Looks like there is no doubt now, the Count won't be in Melbourne this year, it is going to be late January or early February before it appears in town, actually may have to consider waiting until the kids go back to school after the christmas break just so there won't be so much traffic on the roads, thus the mention of February, very tiresome as I want it here now! It is hardly fair I think really, but our trip to Europe and then my parents European cruise have not left great amounts of time available between now and christmas / end of year to be able to head up north and sort things out, such trials haha. I am visiting though in early December and as such will be able to get some work done, though probably limited for a short visit. 

There is quite a deal of small fiddly things that need to be done before I can get it running and one of the first items has to be the brakes, if for nothing else other than that the garage is at the top of a quite steep driveway and there is no chance that the car can leave the garage unless the brakes work. So on this December visit I have to take such parts as are necessary to ensure I can get it running, any of the nice to have parts can stay in Melbourne to be fitted / replaced once the car is down here. I am going to have to sort out the front wheel geometry as I have said before I don't want to be destroying a set of new tyres just getting back to Melbourne (27 hour drive from my parents house!) as they will certainly scrub out over the return distance otherwise. 

I have been in contact with a local tyre seller, well local to where the car is currently, and everything seemed good as he had found the inner tubes I will need are available, though I have not heard from him in a couple of weeks so I must chase that up and see if he can supply and fit tyres as well. I will be getting the Nankang CX-668 Tourer 155/80R14 81T, and yes I know that 145/80/14 would be a much better option, but they just aren't available in that size here in Australia, well not anywhere that can locate anyway, and I don't want "antique" items. The 155 are only 10mm wider than the 145 and if they are maintained and the pressures checked regularly they should be just the ticket. If he can't supply the tyres as well as the tubes then I will just get the tyres direct from a supplier on the internet and then see if he will fit the tyres and tubes for a reasonable price, hopefully all will work to satisfaction. 

Items I have to replace that I can think of at the moment are: Master Cylinder Front and Rear Slave Cylinders,  Front and Rear Brake Shoes, Flexible Brake Lines, Radiator, Heater and Fuel Rubber Hoses, Water-pump, Thermostat Housing and Thermostat. 

I think that is the total of the absolutely must do items, that I currently have, just to get it ready for the trip to Melbourne, so as such hopefully I will be able to get that done in December. Further I still need to decide on what I am going to be doing in relation to the radiator, it has to definitely have something done as it is just past its best really. I have had a quote from a reconditioner and the price could be either $350ish or $450ish, depending on what type of core my radiator has. It seems that the Radiator man has been informed by his supplier that there are two different types of core used in the Morris Minor (really? there are?) and until the core is removed and measured up he can't tell which it would be. If this is so you can bet without shadow of a doubt that mine would be the most expensive kind as most anything always seem to be so if there is a cheaper option available. That being said I can also buy a brand new radiator to just drop straight in and bolt up and not even have to worry about it at all having old top and bottom tanks, that would cost more though technically it would be the best option I think, mind brand new isn't a guarantee of quality and longevity is it! The brand new beastie would cost $500ish but to be honest given the approximate quotes for the re-core it would probably be better to spend just that bit more and get new, radiator bling, haha! 

I am also still throwing around ideas about the gear box, I have found some very helpful people that quotes me about $660 to recondition a box for me, using a later 948 box, though then taking the remote leave housing off the box and fitting the earlier 803 box tail. This of course would require them to swap the reverse gear selector rod so there is a lock out as a straight swap out with out changing the selector rod means that reverse would be able to be selected at anytime due to differing lock out systems between the two boxes. I think it would not be necessary to swap the 803 speedo drive with the 948 one in the 948 box as the car currently has a 948 speedo in it and it doesn't read correctly with the 803 box anyway. Maybe this all need some more thought and advice from the rebuilders. I'll have to get back to you on that I think....

Back when it was on the farm, keeping the Humber company

Sep - Oct 2013

Ok sorry to anyone that regularly reads this (if anyone regularly, or otherwise, reads this at all) for the delay in posting updates. I have been away on holidays and have not had access to a computer for the last 5 weeks, which has been great! 

Holidays were in Europe, and went to the Goodwood Revival, Frankfurt Motor Show, Classic Remise in Berlin , Haynes Motor Museum , Beaulieau Autojumble, and various other places and locations, not all car related I must add. Goodwood was, as previously just really quite fantastic, the racing was great, the Spitfires brilliant and the atmosphere as always fun and relaxed. It is great to see so many people getting into the vintage spirit of the event and dressing for the occasion. The car park alone is almost worth the visit by itself, such a amazing array of vehicles parked in the paddock. It is great to see that people are happy to use cars that are worth such vast sums and not just leave them locked in a shed. Over all Goodwood Revival is a great event and it really has grown in size quite noticeably since the last visit to it a few years ago. No wonder it is a sell out every year. 

The Frankfurt Motor show was just out of this world, it really makes the old Melbourne and Sydney “International” motor shows look quite tragic and tiny by comparison! To be honest the old Sydney or Melbourne shows would quite easily have been accommodated in just the Mercedes pavilion alone at Frankfurt , and quite comfortably at that! The scale of the pavilions and variety of cars and parts suppliers on show was truly overwhelming. Really such an amazing spectacle and the amount of money they must have to spend to present it is really quite mind blowing. Whilst we didn’t get into the Audi pavilion the Mercedes on was by far the stand out in style and scale. 

A recommendation for Berlin, make the effort to go and see the Classic Remise, which of course is moving to a new home in 2015 I believe, the current building (an old imperial tram depot) and setup is really quite something and the range of cars that are there being stored or waiting for sale is just amazing. Really like the two Horch 853A Sportroadsters which would have to be a personal favourite. Whilst travelling about the UK in our rented bright red Fiat 500 (what a great little car!) was trying to decide if I should look up and visit a few Morris Minor parts places prior to going to the Beaulieau Autojumble or not, as maybe all that I wanted would be at the Beaulieau and “special” prices, but in the end decided to visit Bull Motif Spares in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire. I purchased quite a few parts and bits most of which I managed to pack into my luggage and some larger parts that I had mailed home. I was very glad that I had stopped by Bull Motif as, maybe I wasn’t looking carefully, but I didn’t see many Morris Minor parts at Beaulieau at all, and no specialist suppliers that I saw. I had though that as Beaulieau was such a big event and grandly advertise as being an International Autojumble that there would have been a great many traders of Morris Minor parts, so that was a insight to the event. Don’t get me wrong it was great to attend and see what this event I have heard so much about over the years was actually like and there were a vast number of traders and private sellers, and it was definitely international, so many Dutch nationals, both selling and buying, they must really like the British cars. Mind one question remains, clogs, really, you actually wear them, surely they can’t be at all comfortable walking for miles through wet and muddy grass! There was so much “stuff” at the Autojumble that it would be almost impossible to actually take everything in, there was certainly some amazing items and I think it would be hard to locate the exact obscure part your after without actually scouring each and every stand, though what your after is probably there somewhere. Well not so much Morris Minor spares, but plenty of other stuff anyway. 

So anyway heaps of bits and pieces for The Count, which should have it looking and running mighty fine for a while. Thus now it is the hard slog of saving the money for the actual trip and figuring out when I can actually get to the car and install the parts that are needed to get it road safe and legal, so that I can then either just drive the car from Queensland to Melbourne or have it freighted. I have been looking at freighting it and it has to be fully operational and running for that, so with the brakes needing doing and such like that I may as well just drive it down once it is all done I think, well that is what I would prefer to do. 

Well hopefully now I have all of these parts, one day in the not too distant future I will be able to get to the car and start to sort it all out, I would like to be able to get it down to Melbourne prior to Christmas, though this may slip a little to early in the new year, I hope not, though as there is only 11 weeks to go until Christmas it may just catch me out.

Goodwood Revival parking lot

The mighty 500 in the UK

August 2013

Well have just been looking through some photos that I forgot I had and well here are a couple of The Count preparing for the journey from the farm to the new garage and of the car in residence at the new place.

Funny how you forget about taking some pictures until you start looking isn’t it. Thank goodness for the 4x4 because the weight of that trailer alone was staggering. The only reason that the car was trailered and not driven is that the master cylinder had given up the will to operate (probably the seals) and as I have not obtained a new one yet to replace it with it was an impossibility to drive down the highway and across town. Completely aside from the fact that the radiator needs a recore still and would have overheated by the time it got to the end of the drive, well maybe an exaggeration though I am sure it would not have made it too far before it did. 

Plans are afoot to get hold of some much needed parts in the near future, though actually getting time to fit them and start the process of getting The Count roadworthy again is seeming hard to nail down, maybe around December I will actually get to start, depending on funds and leave availability. I need to source a master cylinder and brake shoes front and rear, a complete set of hoses, rear window seal, horns that actually make a noise, water pump and a new thermostat housing and the outlet on the old one has been eaten away. Of course there are other items too like gaskets and exhaust hangers and flange clamps and such, but the main parts are just to get it running rather than required “spare” parts. 

I hear that the International Autojumble at Beaulieu in the UK is Europe ’s biggest and as it is a British car I reckon that I need to see about visiting there one day, maybe, one day anyway. 

 I’ve been working out a few wiring diagrams to get my head around what I need to do so as to install the necessary upgrades as well. The car already has a alternator fitted so that is a start, but I need to sort out fitting relays into the system in a few places so that I can run halogen lights without melting down the original switch with the extra current load which would be nice. I also want to have the trafficators working again (they probably just need a good service after sitting so long, I’ve had them working before) and I want them working along side the indicators and all controlled by the one switch, so I have been thinking about that as well and I think that along with a couple of relays I will be able to sort that relatively easily too. Oh well back to planning, not long now till until it all starts to happen, really looking forward to that!

July 2013

Not really sure that much has been going on at all though I guess plans change and improve and things are really starting to come together with the planning. I think I have finally figured out the route that I want to take and that lands to knowing the proposed total mileage just to get between those points, It also lets me plan on how long it will take in hours to travel between those points so I guess I can also start planning on where I will be looking at staying after the particularly long runs. 

Of course once I get the car home a great deal will change and work will be able to commence properly, though by that time all of the planning should be complete and it will just be the mechanical side of things to progress with. I have managed to find a place that does tyres of the type I am looking for at a decent price, so I am pleased that I have located that and I have something to compare all the other tyre sellers to now. So if prices are to madly expensive I can always get them from this company I have found and then just have them and new inner tubes fitted to the rims at any tyre place which should cost less. Mind I would have to pay to get rid of the old ones as well so that is another cost factor to remember in the comparison costs. I have to additionally sort out the problem with the mysterious one side scrubbing out the inner edge of the front tyres and then once it is replaced the other side has a turn. Not sure why it is doing this it certainly is most odd I can understand one side doing it continuously, but swapping from one side to the other is a concern. 

Hopefully the trunions aren’t worn out too. I have to say though that I have recently been re-reading some of my Morris Minor books and old Morris Minor Owners Club magazines and the old Morris Minor magazine “Minor Monthly”, and reading about the methods of setting up the wheel alignment on the Morrie which has brought on a very vague recollection. When I was replacing all of the old original rubber suspension bushes etc in The Count, some years ago now, with polyurethane ones I have the very slightest of ideas that when I took the eye bolts out of the chassis legs I may have removed the spacer washers whilst thinking to myself “why the hell would you put a washer on this side of the chassis leg”. As I say I very vaguely recall that and it will be interesting to check if it is so once I go and visit the car again to start replacing all the brake parts. I am hoping that this is the case and I have simply to replace the washers and all will be good with the geometry again. It would after all be great not to scrub the inside edge out of a brand new tyre straight away, let alone at all, I think! 

 Oh and the tyres, well I know it is non-purest, but after so many years with antique and out of date cross-ply tyres I want new belted radials, obviously with inner tubes inside them. Perhaps the handling will be better, maybe, though lets face it the handling is great anyway, it is a Morris Minor after all, what I am hoping for though is a reduction in road noise. Let’s face it the last “new” set of cross-ply tyres I put on the car (well they are actually still on it now) was quite a long time ago and yes they were starting to get a bit thin on the tread, they were well past the mandatory replacement age of 5 years old when I actually bought then “new”. 

Sadly we don’t have the European laws relating to tyre age in Australia and they are legally permitted to sell "new" tyres that could be well over 10 years old before they ever see life on a vehicle at all. The old rubber hardens and whilst they still do the job reasonably well they also transmit a heck of a lot of road noise into the cabin. So I am hoping that new tyres that are guaranteed less than 12 months old from date of manufacture, and being not cross-ply, will bring a whole new level of noise buffering as well as better grip and comfort. We shall see I guess...

June 2013 pt 2 - Current Planned Route

Well I have been working through some maps and web sites and have decided on the third planned route so far this year, so it will probably change yet again, though it would be great to be able to go with this one as it covers areas mostly that I have not seen before, rather than travelling over roads that I have already done in the past (admittedly not necessarily in The Count though). I have checked out a few forum groups and some other information on the web and it seems that all the routes I have decided on so far are actually fairly much all sealed roads, besides people tow caravans over the roads so I think a Morris Minor should be able to make it as well. This is the proposed route

(sorry the quality is not the greatest, will have to try another scanner and replace it later if it works better) Currently the total distance works out to be approximately 24,061 kilometres (14,950 miles) and it includes some back tracking points, but worth it for the experience and seeing lots of "otherwise never going to get there" places. Given that it is possible to try and figure out what it will cost in fuel and such working with a few random guestimated input data, thus: Supposing that The Count has a 22 litre tank and that it is running at 8 litres/100 kilometres and that fuel is averaged at 172cents/litre it would be working out at: Total Litres - 1925 No: of Tanks - 87.49 Cost - $3,272.00 AUD So given that I can play around and come up with various figures that range from a cost of $2,695 to $6,256 for that cost of fuel for the whole trip by varying the average fuel consumption and the cost of fuel at cents/litre. Certainly is an interesting exercise

June 2013

Well here we go, not much at all has been happening, though have spent some time reviewing the planned route and where I want to go and see. With a better idea of where I want to go this has led to a revision of the distances to be covered and even to a proposed projection of what the fuel for the trip may cost. Give the variable cost of fuel I have worked it out at various cents per litre amounts just to see what I should be budgeting for, surprisingly it isn’t actually too bad (well from this end of the trip anyway) so that is something. I have redrawn the line around Australia and through the north south middle that will be the proposed route and have come up with a new total distance to drive just the trip as planned of 21,725 kilometres, so that is only 13,500 (ish) miles. 

Have to say the kilometres total does sound more impressive, though as the speedo is in miles I guess its best to have both figures. The speedo will require a re-calibration though as it only reads about half the actual speed and as such the “mileometer” is well out unfortunately. This distance of course doesn’t include any “off route excursions” so it is just a general guide, though I have amended the route plan to include getting too and from Uluru and going to Longreach as well. Oh and down to Port Lincoln rather then just taking the direct route to Adelaide from the Nullarbor. I am sure though I have not added even half of the things and places will end up wanting to see and do, thus there is no doubt the distance and fuel cost will climb.

 I have also been looking at how to get The Count down to Melbourne and been pricing having it freighted, the costs for which vary and it is between $650 and about $1650 with various companies. Some figures will permit the car alone, not carrying anything inside it and some will allow items to be in the car. There is of course the option to get a vehicle permit and drive The Count down to Melbourne, which isn’t a mad as it sounds as I have to have the car running and brakes working etc before it could be freighted, so why not drive it anyway and it can be a shake down trip for the drive to follow. I have of course got top level breakdown cover with the motoring organisation and they assure me it will cover me for any vehicle I am driving so that is good if it works. 

I would prefer to drive it down to Melbourne myself as it is much more interesting a prospect that loading it onto a truck and waiting for it to arrive at the other end. Time will tell I guess, one needs to be able to get insurance cover for it first or it won’t be driven anywhere and with it not actually being registered yet that can be a hassle for a permit drive of such long distance (across three States, all with different police forces and vehicle registry authorities!). Anyway time will tell. 

 I was actually looking into registration in Victoria and what rego plates I may be able to get on the car. Since Victoria had started to issue plates commencing with a “Y” I was actually hoping that I may actually be able to get the “Victoria” version of the plate The Count used to have when it was registered in the ACT. Back in the day all of the States had a block of letters that registration plates in their territory could start with and the ACT had “Y”, so if you saw a plate that started with the letter “Y” you knew it was a vehicle registered in the ACT, which made things so easy. 

Now those rules have changed and all of the States seem to be going off in all directions relating to rego plates, which is not a bad thing, though it would have been good if my old ACT number was still available in Victoria. Doesn’t matter though, it isn’t as though it was a special number, it is just the first number it had from the time I owned it, just a bit of nostalgia. Victoria now has a whole range of different types of plates available, as well as the old standard size, so I will have a look through those and see what is available. Hmm maybe some euro style plates would be the go, at least they should fit into the plate mounting on the boot lid, unlike the standard type plate…